It's been exactly two weeks now since we opened the door to our new home and our new lives in Northwest Iowa. Twelve days since this moving truck arrived.
Last week I showed you the serene-like exterior of our new abode. Now to lift the veil.
Be forewarned, my friends: this is that last pretty picture you will see!
We had two days between closing and when the moving truck was to arrive so we tried like mad to make the most of that time without all our goods in the way. The priority was to get the messy work done in the upstairs bedrooms, and in two days we did get all the popcorn ceiling off, wallpaper off, and carpets out of the three bedrooms upstairs as well as flooring out of the Entry. It was crazy.
First the Master Bedroom.
Peeled off a little wallpaper and revealed some very crumbly plaster beneath.
Who would have thought purple?
The first focus was getting the popcorn ceiling off. I only attempted this project because the popcorn was unpainted and thus much easier to scrap off, but nevertheless BE WARNED. This is the most gigantic mess ever. We used a garden pump sprayer to wet it (but not too much as to soak the drywall) and then scraped it off with a wide flat edge putty knife. The stuff scrapes off pretty well but then you have clumps of messy gooey and then dusty white EVERYWHERE.
This is the kiddos room: Wallpaper came off somewhat easily here, with a few trouble spots. My dear mother-in-law let me borrow her steamer and that helped so much - would never try wallpaper removal again without one. Also took up the carpet...floors are in tough shape.
Surprise! Underneath the curtain, the window pane is a little worse for wear.
Took up carpet and linoleum in the Entry. Here's the fun residue the linoleum left.
Within the first few hours I developed severe CWRD - Compulsive Wallpaper Removal Disorder.
There is wallpaper in EVERY room of this home, and it was impossible resist picking at it here and there and see what would come off without a fight. But there is nothing like strips of wallpaper hanging off every wall to make a house feel like a dilapidated crazy zone. oops.
Underneath the wallpaper in the entry we found this unbelievable fake wood paneling - how could this ever be a good idea right next to real oak??
Now, I wish we had left it up and filled the paneling lines and just painted it. But I didn't think of that. Instead I tore it down and found out why someone thought the paneling was a "good" idea - they were covering a Door In The Wall. We found this the morning the movers arrived so we just put the bookcase in front of it like so, and are presently trying to pretend it isn't there figuring out what to do next.
Insert lots of sweat and stress.
Growing up, my family moved a lot and went thru a number of home reno projects, doing about all the work ourselves. That's to say I'm somewhat used to this kind of chaos. So pair me with my sweetheart Professor man who lived in the same house that his mother grew up in and loves,loves, LOVES cleanliness and order. Yeah, not the best combo.
Praise God, my in-laws came and took care of the children mon-thurs, so they were spared most of the trauma. Don't know how we would have managed otherwise.
Now, for some pictures of where we are today.
Here are where our offspring sleep. Gotta say it feels a little ghetto in here with the plaster falling off the walls and the patchy paint.
But you get the vision with the three yellow beds, right? right??
The hardwoods under the carpet are a mess. Waterspots and paint everywhere.
My oldest said, "It's a MESS in here. You need to clean this up, Mama."
I'll get right on that cutie-pie.
The Master Bedroom has been quite the saga. Here she is today. Because of the plaster chinking off we had to have someone come in and trowel the walls. Cha-ching$$
After the nice guy skimmed and sanded I swept and mopped my heart out, trying to get that blasted drywall dust cleaned out of there. I also caulked the seams and sanded again and swept again.
But even after doing a lot of touch up work myself, when I went to paint I was still finding so many trouble spots like this. So I finally called the nice guy up and asked him to come take a look. So he did and said it did need to be gone over again...which meant more sanding and drywall dust clean-up.
Remembering the "BEFORE".
And my "IN PROGRESS AFTER"
Look at that wondrous popcorn-free ceiling - so worth it.
In the meantime....my darling and I are sleeping here in the third room. Yikers.
I have to climb over my darling to get to my side of the bed. Pretty sure that's his favorite part of the arrangement.
So it's a mess. And here's further proof of my CWRD.
I did this most of this while "brushing" my teeth. It's irresistible, I tell you.
And here in the hallway. Oh little stencils, how I long to paint over thee.
So everything in our home is still in the works...not one box has been unpacked except the Professor's books in his basement lair. But though every project is in a way Current, my main focus right now is the Kitchen as we're starting to feel desperate to have that space functional. Here she is with her first coat of primer. Already feels so much better, fresher, all together more promising. I'll post details on the project when it is (hopefully) finished.
Whew! How's that for an update. I do so hope to get to post some nice, under-control "After" pictures
soon. It's felt so
not nice or under-control for a good bit now.
BUT Best News Ever is
Sister's flying in to lend her helpful hands tomorrow!!!
So yes, there is hope for us after all.
Thank you much for sticking with me, friends.
love,
cailan
